"Ryo?"
The redhead looked up at the sound of Julian's voice. The young man was edging into Ryo's office, looking a little worried.
"Ah, Julian!" Ryo said, cheerfully, "How did the the continuation of yesterday's trial against Rago go today?"
"Closing arguements are tomorrow morning, starting at eight." Julian answered, and shifted on his feet.
"Something wrong, Julian?" Ryo asked.
"I... Well... I'm not sure." Julian sighed, and he moved to sit in the chair in front of Ryo's desk, "Tomorrow afternoon is the first part of Ziggurat's trial, you know that, right?"
"Yes, I do." Ryo nodded, "Kidnapping, attempted murder, brainwashing..."
"I cut him a deal." Julian blurted out, suddenly.
Ryo paused, then cocked his head, "Come again?"
"He swore he'd reverse the arrangement on Gingka, Ryuto, and Sora. And... I remember it was only pure luck that we managed to get Chao Xin back to normal, and we tried it with the others, and it didn't work, and-" Julian cut off as Ryo raised his hand.
"I understand, Julian." Ryo said, softly, before asking, "What was the sentence?"
"Twenty years with parole." Julian said, quietly.
Ryo nodded, "He'll be old when he gets out."
"But still evil."
"A risk we'll have to take." Ryo sighed, "God knows I'll probably be gone by then and either Tsubasa or Gingka will have taken over WWSA by then."
Julian shook his head, "I wish I didn't have to do it, Ryo, but-"
"We get three of our best agents back. Two people get family back. One team gets their agent back." Ryo said, "It's for the best Julian, trust me. You did the right thing."
Julian looked up, eyes full of uncertainty, "Did I?"
"Yes!" Xue laughed, "You did it, red! You stood up to him in court! You were great!" She paused as her wristwatch beeped. She glanced at the time, "Shoot, I have a meeting to get to with Ryo. I'll be back in about an hour."
"Where is it gonna be?" Christina asked.
"Across town." Xue said, "I'll see guys later!"
Xue walked out of the room, and the moment the door shut, the talking commenced again.
"You sassed that Ryan guy better than I was mentally." Nero laughed, and his voice changed slightly, "Repeat the question. I may not be able to hear all that well, but that doesn't mean you have to whisper. Not like you're the one on trial here..."
"He does not sound like that." Aguma deadpanned from across the room.
"He does to!" Nero shot back.
"No, he doesn't."
"Dame un descanso." In the background, Tithi facepalmed, looking annoyed, "You're idiots- don't start fighting over something so small."
Next to him, Dynamis gave him a look, "Are you kidding me right now? Do you remember what you were like when you were young? You made the biggest deal out of everything!"
Tithi growled a little, "I thought we agreed never to speak of it again."
"You said that. I never did."
"... fucking mastermind."
"Language!"
"I'm twenty years old! I can do and say whatever the hell I want!"
"It's like watching an old married couple..." Yuu said, watching the exchange.
"Like it isn't with you and Tsubasa almost every day?" Madoka asked, dryly.
Yuu and Tsubasa blinked, before yelling at the same time, "What's that supposed to mean?!"
"What do you think?" Madoka rolled her eyes.
"Madoka!"
"Bao, you okay?" Christina's voice was lower than the other occupants of the room- granted, they were talking in good fun, but their voices were loud.
Bao was blinking rapidly, and from what Christina had learned in the last week or so, she knew Bao blinking rapidly was a bad sign.
"Too loud... It's loud here." Bao said, waving his fingers a little.
Christina felt a small bout of panic rise up in her throat, and she cut in front of Bao, blocking his sight of the scene, "Bao, hey, focus on me." She reached a hand out, as if to touch him, but thought better about it. She didn't know how he would react with her, but she knew how'd he react with Xue...
Damn it, where was that woman when you needed her?!
"Bao, focus on me for a minute. If you can hear me, cover your ears?" Christina asked.
For a long moment, Bao just kept blinking, before doing as asked.
Christina then whipped around, put two of her fingers in her mouth, and let out a shrill whistle. It worked, as everyone hushed up to cover their ears, before looking at Christina with similar expressions of confusion.
"Quiet all of you." Christina's voice was low, but firm, "Your voices are causing Bao to have a panic attack."
"Then... where is he?" Nero asked, raising an eyebrow.
Christina whipped around, let out a curse, then turned to the group, "Spread out, let's see if we can find him."
Kuro was walking through the hallways of the WWSA building, twirling a knife between her fingers. The only sound to her ears was the sound of her boots thumping on the tile floor.
Kuro paused when she heard the sound of barely there footsteps behind her. She whipped around, sliding into a fighting stance, knife up and at the ready.
The sound of a door slamming reached her ear, from around the corner she'd just come from around. Kuro blinked, and she lowered her weapon. She walked down the hallway, and turned the corner. She looked at the doors, before noting one wasn't completely shut, and the inside was dark.
Kuro frowned, and walked over. She pushed the door open, flipped the light on, and was greeted with a yelp of pain and surprise.
Kuro let her eyes catch sight everything in the room- it was a small closet, really- before she turned the lights back out. An anxious thought crossed her mind, Oh, fuck, I'm really not ready to deal with this...
Kuro stepped out into the hallway, taking several deep breaths, before she put her knife into the sheath in her boot. She pulled her phone out, and turned her flashlight on it's dimmest setting, before opening the closet door, stepping in, and shutting it behind her.
The flashlight's beam fell over her brother, who sat in the furthest corner of the room, curled in on himself.
"Couldn't pick a better place to hide, l'il bro?" Kuro grumbled, stepping over a bucket and ducking under a mop. She bounced a little to keep her balance, before moving to sit down a few inches away from Bao, "What's wrong?"
Bao didn't answer, just sat where he was, quiet and shivering.
"Didn't Xue say something about this being the side effects of what Ra- um, what's- his- name did to you?" Kuro asked, then answered that, "Yeah, I can see that. You're sensitive to everything but smell, aren't you? Course you are, I was right there. I saw what was wrong. Wax in your ears, over your eyes... hell, you had that oily- pasty stuff all over your skin and in your mouth. And that burned like hell, I remember that."
Kuro leaned her head back on the wall behind her, closing her eyes. Images from just over a year ago, images Kuro thought she'd buried, surfaced to play behind her closed eyelids.
Kuro opened her eyes.
"I can't imagine what you went through in the last year. Nightmares, and therapy, I'm sure." Kuro muttered, voice low, "I know what I went through. I didn't... I didn't really look after myself all that well."
Silence filled the room. Kuro jumped as Bao croaked out, "What did you do?"
Kuro looked over at Bao. Her brother had his head laid on his arms, sideways, looking at Kuro. His eyes were unfocused, but his shaking had ceased.
Kuro swallowed, and leaned back again. She closed her eyes, and started to talk, the story of the last year pouring out of her.
Tithi's words, as used by Google Translate: Give me a break.